Smart speakers having access to virtual personal assistant (VPA) services are devices that respond to user queries, which may be in the form of spoken queries, by searching for a response to the query of the user, for example, using the internet and provide the response to the user, often in the form of an audible response such as synthesized speech. Smart speakers having access to VPA services may also respond to user commands to play audio from a specified audio source, for example, an internet radio station, or to control a smart device, for example, to turn on or off a light or change a setting of another smart device that the smart speaker has access to, for example, via Wi-Fi signals either directly or through an internet router of the user. Queries or commands are typically provided to a VPA through a smart speaker or other device by a user after the user presses a button or says a wake up word or phrase, for example, “Alexa” that indicates to the smart speaker or other device that the user is addressing the VPA. VPA enabled devices are becoming more prevalent with various companies providing competing devices, for example, the Echo™ device from Amazon, Google Home™ device from Google, and various devices incorporating the Siri™ application from Apple. Current smart speakers are not situationally aware. They lack the ability to, for example, detect parameters of the environment around them such as location of a person, a number or people around the smart speaker, or ambient noise levels. Current smart speakers cannot tailor VPA responses to user queries or commands based on environmental parameters.